Art in Typography, Typography in Art

The process of creating typography is an art in itself; letter by letter or the intricate details of a word. Typography is often used in modern art and design. It is not simply text on paper, a set of letters, an arrangement of words, a description or a statement. Typography can create a statement in a more profound sense. Type can take the shape of objects, and it can deliver a message; communicate something meaningful and spread an idea. Type can be used in design to aid artwork and can be art in itself. Typography is a beautiful art form, and can incorporated in T-shirt design as well.

Located in the bottom-left corner of the Design By Humans websites is a link to the categories section of the website. In this section, tees are arranged by subject matter. This section includes a collection of T-shirts titled “Typography T-Shirts” containing Design By Humans’ shirts that incorporate typography.

Theo Aartsma
Theo Aartsma is a designer/illustrator working with Nike, Pall Mall, Toyota, and more. Theo got started as a designer as a young musician who needed promotional material, and decided to make it himself.

Alberto Seveso
Seveso found his way into design through his interest in skateboard decks and metal band album covers. Alberto creates beautiful work using not only typography, but also incredibly detailed and expressive portraits. I urge you to check out the rest of his work; it is breathtaking.

Alex Trochut
Alex Trochut believes that “design and illustration is a language in constant change.” He has created designs for well known clients such as Wiz Khalifa, Gotye, Pepsi, Arcade Fire, and many more; he even designed the cover for Katy Perry’s new album, Roar. Amazing.

Piet Zwart
Piet Zwart was a well known DeStijl designer. He experimented by combining upper and lowercase lettering, circles, lines and screens. DeStijl aimed to remove all emotion from typographic art, leaving it neutral and geometrically abstract.

When downloading a free font, the font folder will often contain a license or terms of use file explaining exactly how to use the font. It is necessary to read this file in order to use the font legally.

Typography can be incorporated within art and T-shirt design, but typography is also an art in itself. How can you incorporate text in your designs in the most creative way possible? Hopefully these artists and designers will spark some ideas in your creative brains.